Rebs Wrap Up Non Conference Play

Ole Miss wrapped up nonconference play tonight with a win over SWAC leading Jackson State. Low production night as far as runs go, and it appears the fielding/throwing errors are still an issue. All I know is the toughest weekend of the season is upon the Rebels as they travel to Athens. UGA is beatable, but with the way this team has played some games this year, the Rebels will probably only squeeze out one win in Athens. A sweep at Athens and next weekend in my opinion is about the only thing that could have the Rebels on the bubble as far as hosting, that includes a hot run in the SEC Tourney. But my true belief is they blew their chances a couple of weeks ago in a bid to host a regional.


(UMAA) OXFORD, Miss. – The Rebels got a pair of key home runs from Fuller and Matt Smith on Wednesday night as No. 25 Ole Miss (30-17) picked up a 5-3 win over Jackson State (33-16) at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
Fuller Smith was 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI on the night, while Matt Smith finished 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
Nathan Baker (3-4) picked up the win as he worked 5.0 innings, allowing three runs, one earned, on seven hits with two strikeouts. Scott Bittle picked up his seventh save of the season as he closed out the ninth and retired the side in order to preserve the 5-3 win. Jake Morgan worked 3.0 innings of relief with one walk and five strikeouts as he held Jackson State hitless in his time on the mound.
Charles Williams (9-3) suffered the loss for Jackson State as he allowed three runs on seven hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
“Jake Morgan pitched well and has done a great job all year,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “We pitched really well. I thought Jackson State was tremendous tonight. They were able to do some things offensively to put some pressure on us.”
Ole Miss got on the board in the second inning when Fuller Smith came up with an RBI single to short to score Cullan Kight from third. Kight reached on a single to right field before moving to second on a single to left from Jordan Henry. Kight then moved to third on a fielder’s choice to short from Basham that saw Henry erased from the path at second. Basham moved to second on the single from Fuller Smith before scoring on a single down the left field line from Logan Power. Ole Miss led 2-0 after two innings of play.
Jackson State scored in the third when Marquise Zachary scored from third on a throwing error to second off a steal attempt. Zachary reached on a fielding error at short before moving to third on a single through the right side from Charles Brown. Brown moved to second on the steal play that allowed Zachary to score. A single from Jerome Tyes scored Brown and tied the game at two.
Matt Smith homered to open the third inning and give the lead back to the Rebels before Fuller Smith homered to open the fourth inning and give the Rebels a 4-2 lead. Two walks sandwiched around a double from Overbeck loaded the bases with no outs. A fielder’s choice from Cullan Kight pushed Power across the plate and gave the Rebels a 5-2 lead with two outs.
Jackson State cut into the lead in the sixth as three straight singles pushed a run across and left runners at second and third with no outs before the Rebels went to the bullpen for Morgan. Morgan then got a strikeout and a line out into a double play to end the inning with the Rebels leading 5-3.
Morgan kept Jackson State off the board through the eighth before Bittle closed out the ninth.
Ole Miss returns to action this weekend, taking to the road for a showdown with the eighth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in Southeastern Conference action. First pitch for Friday’s game will begin at 5:30 p.m. CDT. Saturday’s game will be televised by ESPNU at 2:00 p.m. CDT.

Rebs to Host

THE ONLY SPORT THEY WILL HOST IN THIS YEAR

(UMAA) OXFORD, Miss. – The No. 4 nationally ranked Ole Miss men’s tennis team will have five players represented in the NCAA Individual Championships as those selections were announced Wednesday.

Senior Erling Tveit, ranked No.22 in the nation, will be making his third consecutive appearance at the NCAA Singles Championships as well as his third straight doubles appearance. The two-time All-American reached the semifinals in singles in 2006, becoming the fourth Rebel to advance that far. Last year he advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles with former All-American Eric Claesson.

Robbye Poole also received an at-large bid to the 64-player field, and will be going for the second year in a row. The senior reached the round of 16 in his first appearance last year, becoming the 20th All-American in the history of the program.

Senior Matthias Wellermann earned his first ever NCAA singles bid. He is ranked No. 29 in the nation with a 21-13 overall record.

Ole Miss will have two doubles teams in the 32-team field. Tveit and junior Jonas Berg earned the No. 4 seed in the draw. They are ranked No. 5 in the nation with a 25-7 overall record.

Joining them will be Wellermann and Bram ten Berge. The two are ranked No. 21 in the nation, but have not played together in a month with ten Berge missing the last nine matches with an injured foot. ten Berge is practicing full time now and should be ready to go for the NCAA Championships.

Ole Miss tied with five other schools for the most singles selections and with one school for the most doubles selections.

The singles and doubles competition will be conducted May 21-26 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla., following the conclusion of the team championship (May 16-20).

Bad News Bears

As it has happened many times this season, just when you think the Rebels have it back together, they drop back to their old ways of careless baseball. When I say careless, I mean it seems like they could care less rather they win or lose. The Saturday performance by this Ole Miss baseball team was a joke. In the first game they fought back from being way down to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth to watch it go away in the tenth. They followed that up with one of the worst games I have seen in the second game of the double header.

The entire weekend, I have never seen more mental mistakes by a Bianco team. Two dropped fly balls on Friday and numerous fielding errors on Saturday, made the team look like the Bad News Bears and several well juiced fans called them that in left field. I don't know what to say or how they should change things to turn into a winning program, but at this rate a three seed in the NCAA tourney would be lucky. If the SEC West was not as bad as they are this year, this Ole Miss team would not be in Birmingham late May. All in all a terrible doubleheader in what was a fun Oxford weekend.

(UMAA) OXFORD, Miss. – The long ball proved to be the Rebels undoing on Saturday as No. 21 Ole Miss (28-17, 11-10 SEC) dropped both games of a doubleheader to Arkansas (26-18, 9-11 SEC) as the Razorbacks used five home runs through two games to claim the series.
Ole Miss managed double-digit hits in both games, but left 20 men stranded in the two games combined. The Rebels also committed five errors on the day in the losses.
Brett Basham was 2-for-4 with an RBI in the nightcap to lead the Rebel offense and also led the team on the day as he was 6-for-9 at the plate on the afternoon with two RBI and a run scored.
Cody Satterwhite (3-4) suffered the loss in game two as he worked 4.2 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with four walks and six strikeouts.
Cliff Springston (5-2) picked up the win for the Razorbacks as he worked a complete game, allowing four runs on 11 hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.
“That shows you why this is an amazing game,” Bianco said. “Last night we pitched so well and were able to handle them. Today no one could handle them. We had no answers and they were just unconscious.We’ve never been hit like that, not that many home runs” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “It wasn’t even the amount of hits; it was the amount of home runs. We couldn’t keep the ball in the ballpark.”

Rebs Rebound With Big Bats

The Ole Miss baseball team rebounded tonight in a big way. It should be interesting to see how they take on Arkansas State, it is a game that is a must win. However, the Indians(or whatever they are now) are always fired up for the Rebels and normally play us a very tough game, already beating us once this year. It will not surprise me one bit to see Arkansas State win this game. But it is a must win game for the Rebels who have already given up many non conference losses this year.

(UMAA) OXFORD, Miss. – The Rebels tied a season-high with 21 hits as No. 21 Ole Miss (26-15) got the offense goin and used two big innings to claim a 15-5 win over Murray State (14-21) on Tuesday at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
Fuller Smith hit his fourth home run of the season and was 4-for-5 on the night with two runs scored and two RBI to lead the offense. He was one of six Rebels to notch multiple hits in the outing, including three hits each from Logan Power, Matt Smith and Zach Miller.
Nathan Baker (2-4) picked up the win as he worked 6.0 innings and struck out a career-high 11 batters. Baker allowed four runs – two earned – on two hits and walked three batters in the outing. Baker struck out six of the first seven batters faced to open the game. Rory McKean and Matt Tracy pitched the final 3.0 innings, holding the Thoroughbreds to one run the rest of the way.
Matt McGaha (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season as the Rebels got to him early. McGaha gave up nine runs on 13 hits, including five runs in the first inning, as he walked one and struck out one in 5.1 innings of work.
“Nathan Baker did terrific tonight,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “I thought he pitched well. It’s the best I’ve seen him pitch since he got here. His slider looked good and he had the ability to miss a lot of bats and struck out a lot of people.”

Slip Siding Away......

Baserball America Top 25

1.Miami33-4
2.North Carolina34-7
3.Florida State34-5
4.Missouri28-10
5.Stanford21-12
6.Arizona State31-6
7.California26-10
8.Nebraska28-7
9.Rice31-10
10.Georgia27-12
11.San Diego31-11
12.South Carolina29-11
13.Oklahoma State27-11
14.Wichita State30-7
15.Cal State Fullerton23-13
16.UC Irvine24-9
17.Vanderbilt28-11
18.Texas A&M33-7
19.Michigan28-8
20.Coastal Carolina33-7
21.Mississippi25-15
22.Kentucky30-9
23.Arizona25-11
24.North Carolina State27-12
25.Long Beach State23-14

In Case You Missed It-SEC Champs

(UMAA)
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 2 seeded Ole Miss men’s tennis team downed fourth-seeded Florida 4-1 to capture the SEC Tournament Championship here Sunday at the Billingsley Tennis Center. This marks the Rebels (21-4) second tournament championship as they also captured the event in 1997.

“We knew that we were going to have to play great to beat Florida because they just came off of a big win against Georgia,” head coach Billy Chadwick said. “Florida beat us (in Oxford) this year during the regular season. If we weren’t at our best, we weren’t going to have a chance.”

Senior Erling Tveit, ranked No. 30 in the nation, saved his best match of the year for the SEC Tournament final, taking down the nation’s No.2 ranked player, Greg Ouellette, in straight sets to clinch the championship for the Rebels. Tveit won the first set 6-4 and then raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second set and never looked back, winning 6-2 to clinch.

“It was great (clinching),” Tveit said. I was struggling in the beginning of the match, but I was able to hang in there. Fortunately, I was able to get a break and serve for the first set. I got up 3-0 in the second and gained the momentum. I hadn’t finished a match in the tournament, so I guess it was my turn.”

Junior Jonas Berg was named the SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player, and he earned it, going 4-0 in singles and doubles on the weekend. In singles, he lost only nine games in three matches. The two-time All-SEC honoree has now won 12 in a row. His 6-1, 6-3 win over Gator Jeff Dadamo at No. 4 singles gave the Rebels a 2-0 lead.

AK Signs South Carolina Mr. Basketball

(UMAA)
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss bolstered its strong 2008 hoops signing class on Wednesday when Andy Kennedy’s Rebels inked Murphy Holloway to a national letter of intent.

An athletic 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward, Holloway will arrive in Oxford as one of the top-rated recruits in Ole Miss history after a decorated career at Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, S.C.

Ranked as the nation’s No. 65 overall recruit by ESPN/Scouts, Inc. and the No. 67 recruit by Scout.com, Holloway recently garnered the titles of Gatorade Player of the Year, 4A Player of the Year and Mr. Basketball for the state of South Carolina.

“We’re excited about having the 2008 South Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year join our program,” Kennedy said. “Murphy’s athleticism and versatility at the forward spot will give him an opportunity to come in and pay immediate dividends. We think he’s an excellent addition to our team.”

He was named MVP of the state tournament after leading Dutch Fork to the semifinals and scoring 32 points with 12 rebounds and 10 blocks in the semifinal game, his sixth triple-double of the season. He averaged 28 points and 15 rebounds as a senior after putting up 25 points and 13 boards per game as a junior.

Holloway, who plays AAU ball with the South Carolina Ravens, was also selected to participate in the North Carolina-South Carolina All-Star game. He chose Ole Miss over Tennessee, Clemson and Maryland, among others.

Governor's Cup

Brett Buckvich will get the start tomorrow. Buck has not seen the mound much this seaon due to an injury, but he would be a great addition to the rotation if he truly is ready to go. I would imagine both teams will throw a multitude of pitchers tomorrow, but who knows. State has struggled lately, but it will be Polks last game against Ole Miss in his career, so who knows what tricks he will pull, and if I had to guess right now, he will probably be ejected.

New Baseball America Top 25

1.Miami30-3
2.Arizona State30-4
3.Florida State31-3
4.North Carolina29-7
5.UC Irvine23-6
6.Missouri25-9
7.Wichita State27-5
8.California23-9
9.Nebraska25-6
10.Stanford17-11
11.Rice27-10
12.San Diego27-11
13.Georgia23-12
14.South Carolina25-10
15.Cal State Fullerton20-12
16.Mississippi24-12
17.Vanderbilt24-10
18.Oklahoma State23-10
19.Texas A&M30-6
20.Texas23-12
21.Michigan22-8
22.Coastal Carolina28-7
23.Pepperdine23-11
24.East Carolina26-9
25.Kentucky26-8

More Honors for Lynn

(UMAA)OXFORD, Miss. – Junior right-handed pitcher Lance Lynn was named Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Week for his performance against LSU over the weekend, the league office announced on Monday.

It is the second SEC Pitcher of the Week honor for Lynn this season.

Lynn improved to 5-0 on the season as he helped lead the Rebels to a 2-1 victory over LSU in the first game of a three-game set this past weekend. He also worked a season-long 8.0 innings in the appearance.

The junior tied a career-high with 12 strikeouts against the Tigers, matching the mark he set last season in a complete-game shutout of then No. 4 South Carolina. Lynn allowed only one run on two hits as he did not walk a batter in the outing. After giving up the only run of the game in the third inning, only one batter reached base on a fielding error before Lynn retired the next 15 batters before leaving the game after the eighth inning

Tigers End Rebels Nine Game Winning Streak

An 8-2 win today by LSU ended the Rebels nine game winning streak after what had been two powerful days for the Rebels. The Friday and Saturday game saw great pitching and pretty good hitting on behalf of Ole Miss. I thought this would be back to back sweeps for the Rebels, but they ran out of gas today. LSU played a good game today and Ole Miss just did not have it.

The Rebels have one game in midweek ball against Mississippi State in the Mayor's Cup or whatever they call it now. The Rebels need the extra day off, as several players are banged up with injuries including Overbeck, Guerrero, and Henson. I know it is Mississippi State and it is an important game, but I would truly consider benching Overbeck and Guerrero due to their injuries. Their legs need the rest and this game is not important in the big picture. The weekend series at South Carolina means alot more than a game that does not count in the conference standings, so I think it is worth consideration.

All in all it was a great nine game run, and well needed at a time when many Rebel fans(including myself) were just about ready to give in on the season.

Below is a recap of today's game:

OXFORD, Miss. – Logan Power hit his sixth home run of the season, but it wasn’t enough to help the Rebels pick up a sweep for the second straight weekend as No. 18 Ole Miss (24-12, 9-6 SEC) fell to LSU (22-13, 6-9 SEC) by a score of 8-2 on Sunday.
The loss snapped a nine-game win streak for the Rebels, who were going for a second straight sweep in SEC play after sweeping then sixth-ranked Vanderbilt a week ago.
Cody Satterwhite (3-2) suffered the loss for Ole Miss as he allowed four runs on nine hits with a walk and four strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work.
Ryan Verdugo (6-2) picked up the win for the Tigers as he pitched a complete game, allowing two runs o three hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
“We don’t look at it as win streaks ending and starting and those things,” said Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco. “I’m disappointed with the way we played. It didn’t matter if we won nine in a row or lost yesterday, this wasn’t a great game for us. Certainly, their guy was terrific on the mound. It is very ironic how baseball is, where the guy that is not supposed to start comes out and pitches a complete game, a three-hitter and it is just not a good day for us offensively.”

A Sweep Is What Needs to Happen

If the Rebels could pull off a sweep this weekend, they would be back in the mix of the top programs and where they should be with conference wins at this point in the season. LSU is a team that has surprisingly struggled with SEC play, but has played well out of conference and as always is a pretty good team. This is a big weekend for the Tigers also as they need a couple of wins to get their team back in the hunt for SEC play.

If the Rebels can continue their hot bats, they should be able to secure a sweep. I understand that Lance Lynn did not have to hot of an outing last weekend, so I look for him to bounce back strong. Mike Bianco has strong ties to LSU as a former player and coach, so I know that he will be up for this series, and I know the team will also. Anytime Ole Miss and LSU meet in any sport it is always a tense atmosphere in the hatred rivalry.

There are all sorts of festivities on campus this weekend with it being Red-Blue Weekend. The Spring Game in my opinion is normally boring. But this year should be a little different for those that make it to Oxford. It should be interesting to see new head coach Houston Nutt and QB Jevan Sneed in action.(Just be sure to check your box cutter at the gate)

This weekends lineup:

Game 1
LSU – Jr. RHP Jordan Brown (3-0, 4.91 ERA, 33.0 IP, 17 BB, 29 SO)
UM – Jr. RHP Lance Lynn (4-0, 3.63 ERA, 39.2, 13 BB, 53 SO)

Game 2
LSU – Jr. LHP Blake Martin (1-1, 3.96 ERA, 38.2 IP, 13 BB, 43 SO)
UM – Fr. LHP Drew Pomeranz (2-1, 2.10 ERA, 30.0 IP, 9 BB, 41 SO)

Game 3
LSU – TBA
UM – Jr. RHP Cody Satterwhite (3-1, 4.38 ERA, 39.0 IP, 17 BB, 27 SO)

I'm Back

and it appears the Rebel bats are too, should be intersting to see how long they hold up.

More to come over the next several days.